1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnet-based information input apparatus which is preferably applied to a writing board such as a blackboard, a blueboard, and a whiteboard.
2. Description of the Related Art
A so-called electronic blackboard has been hitherto commercially available, and it is widely used as an information input apparatus, in which, for example, characters, symbols, and graphics drawn with a marker or the like on a writing board are read by means of scanning operation by using a scanning optical system such as a CCD linear sensor to obtain bitmap information so that a copy is outputted on the basis of the bitmap information.
When such an electronic blackboard is used, the characters, symbols, graphics or the like can be reproduced on a monitor of a personal computer or on a hard copy which is obtained as an output of a printer, on the basis of the bitmap information.
Another information input apparatus is also well-known. In the case of this information input apparatus, specified attribute information is previously given to a magnet by using, for example, a color or a character. For example, when such an apparatus is used in a company, information on attendance or information on destination of a company member is expressed by sticking or detaching the attributed magnet onto or from a writing board made of a magnetic material on which attendance information or destination information is depicted.
Such an information input apparatus based on the use of the magnet is easy to perform the operation, and it is convenient in that a person who sees the writing board easily understands the display contents of the information.
However, the bitmap information, which is obtained, for example, from the electronic blackboard as described above, requires a large amount of storage information, for example, even when only one character is displayed. As a result, the following problems occur. That is, the scanning optical system as described above is expensive, and hence the electronic blackboard itself is expensive. A memory unit, which is used to store the information, is expensive as well.
Further, the information input apparatus based on the use of the magnet as described above involves a problem in that the display information cannot be processed as data by using a computer.
The conventional technique, which makes it possible to process the information displayed on the magnet as data by using a computer, may be exemplified by a technique concerning "display panel provided with display magnet" as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-295879.
In this technique, a working situation table, which represents the job content, is previously depicted on a writing board which is the display panel. The writing board includes lead switches which are embedded like a grid vertically and horizontally at positions corresponding to divisions (frames) of the job content in the working situation table. A computer is connected to the respective lead switches via a controller. A bar code reader is connected to the controller. The job content represented by each of the divisions is previously stored in the computer. A name of each person and a bar code corresponding thereto are depicted on the display magnet.
Therefore, when each person sticks the display magnet onto the writing board, the bar code representing the name is firstly read by using the bar code reader. After that, the display magnet is stuck onto a predetermined division. Accordingly, the corresponding lead switch is turned into the ON state. Thus, the working situation of each person such as the job content can be managed by using the computer. That is, the information depicted on the magnet can be processed as data by using the computer.
However, this technique requires the same number of lead switches as the number of divisions with which it is intended to express the information. Therefore, an extremely large number of lead wires are arranged from the lead switches. As a result, a problem arises in that the assembling cost and the production cost of the writing board are highly expensive.
Further, this technique requires the bar code reader, and hence the apparatus is more expensive corresponding thereto. When the display magnet is stuck on the writing board, it is necessary to allow the bar code reader to read the bar code depicted on the display magnet. Therefore, a problem arises in that the operation is more complicated, and the operability is inferior.